cookie fun

i had some sugar cookie dough left over and this afternoon the kids rolled it out, cut out their selected shapes, baked them and then covered them in royal icing and coloured sugars. look at that guy above with that grin. i turned around for 1 minute to grab the camera and i found about a cup of flour on the counter... for rolling, of course. can't have that last couple ounces of cookie dough stick to the pin: of course it ended up all over the place, but it wouldn't have been much fun if it hadn't.

here we have some serious rollers. silicon, wood, and marble.

it was a super fun afternoon, and i have to remember to let kids be kids and make a mess... as long as they help clean it up ;)

100!

well, i made it. 100 posts. i can't believe i found enough to talk about for 100 posts. june has been a very busy month with school ending and so i offered to make a cake for the teacher's appreciation luncheon at our daughter's school. i made my standard chocolate cake recipe (below) that i found on allrecipes.com many moons ago. it's very moist and has a wonderful crumb. i use it for regular cakes, cupcakes-both regular and mini sizes, and bundt pans. which is what i made. my dad brought me a castle shaped bundt pan a couple weeks ago and this was the first opportunity i had to use it where i didn't have the leftover cake laying around the house. i also made cookies for all the teachers and support staff and VP's and the retiring principal. unfortunatly i didn't get any pics of the cake. or the cookies. ah well... next time!

dark chocolate cake

2 cups boiling water
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 3 - 9 inch round cake pans. In medium bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at time, then stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture. Spread batter evenly between the 3 prepared pans.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool.

*the only things that i have done differently the last few times i have made this is to substitute milk for the water, and not boil it. i also sifted the cocoa powder with the flour and other dry ingredients. the results are the same and you don't have to wait for the cocoa water to cool.

small business???

i've been thinking a lot these days about starting up my own cookie store. well, not just cookies, but cupcakes, too. and cakes. but i like candy, too. o, and i love coffee. maybe a cafe type thing. we only have one in our neighbourhood currently and rumour has it that a starbucks will be moving into the building that is taking forever to be finished. i think it started in 2004 and is still not yet completed! i really like the idea of cupcakes! but i don't like that you really can't sit and enjoy them there. i also don't like getting up too early. i know, sucks if i want to be a baker.

i'm completely obscessed about the idea and i'm overwhelmed... anyone out there know where to start?